Dream You're Still Here
by Jenasisity
Summary: The Hamato family has grown, the turtles now know the wonders of parenthood. Keyra is an orphan, when she saves Donatello's child one morning, she gets thrown into one of the most absurd families out there. When past horrors and emotional scars come knocking for the turtles, can Keyra keep her new family as one? Or will it all fall apart? (Daughter fic. Rated as is for language.)
1. Chapter 1: Don't Think, Just Do

' _God, it's like the damn thing is out to get me. For nothing says "good morning" quite like a heart attack, am I right?'_ Keyra thought after she managed to jump up five feet and clear off her bed and onto the floor beside it as the alarm continued to blare it's greeting to her, interrupting and demolishing her peaceful sleep. She sighed as she looked at the calendar. Another week of the hellhole the grownups liked to call school. She was in her second to last year of high school and she honestly had no idea what she wanted to be when she out of that cruel abomination. It seems like everyone around her already had their whole life planned out in front of them and for her, well, she didn't even know what she wanted for dinner. _'But that's okay, I still have about a year and a half to get all my priories sorted out, so no rush. I'm more of a live-in-the-moment girl anyways.'_ She thought to herself as she picked herself up off the cool, auburn hardwood floor.

She made her way to her drawer and threw on a snug sea-blue tank top with a light-weight white sweater, since open shoulders were forbidden in her high school and tight shorts to fit her semi-slim figure. Walking out of the small room, she made sure to lock it up, before taking the stairs, two at a time and grabbed her school bag and a big, bright, red apple from the huge kitchen counter fruit bowl. Dodging kids running around her heels, she continued on her way out the door.

But, just before she reached the entrance to the orphanage, a voice called her name. Turning, she found Mrs. Hope not balancing one, but four toddlers in her arms as she twirled around the few kids running around on foot. Just as she came in arm's length of Keyra, Autumn, one of the toddlers in her arms, decided it would be best to test the law of gravity. As Mrs. Hope let out a startled yelp of shock mixed with concern as the toddler completely let go of her arm, Keyra quickly made a wild grab for the child.

"Oh, whoa!" Keyra laughed as she nimbly caught the child before she could become very personal with the floor. Mrs. Hope immediately let out an audible sigh of relief.

"Oh, thanks, dear. You rascal, 'bout gave me a heart attack!" Keyra chuckled as Mrs. Hope scolded and tickled the toddler when Keyra gently handed her over to her caretaker. Adjusting her school bag over her shoulder, Keyra looked up to Mrs. Hope.

"What was it that you needed, Mrs. Hope?" She asked kindly. Mrs. Hope quickly grabbed a piece of paper from her pocket and handed it to her.

"Could you possibly got to the store after school today and pick up the few things on that list for me, hon? If it's no trouble, of course, I know you have things to do after school," She added quickly.

"Oh, no, no problem at all, I'll get on it right after school hours!" Keyra settled the woman's worries fast.

"Oh, thanks so much, sweetie, you're a real lifesaver!" The caretaker smiled warmly at the fifteen-year-old and gave her a quick peck on the cheek before gently pushing her forward.

"Go now, don't want to be late for school, do ya?" Keyra shook her head, then waved before rushing through the doors.

Skipping along the sidewalk, softly singing, she made her way towards her area's high school as she started to sing her newly discovered and favorite song at that moment in time.

" _Running through the parking lot, he chased me and he wouldn't stop. Tag, you're it. Tag, tag, you're it! Grabbed my hair and pushed me down, took the words right out my mouth. Tag, you're it, tag, tag, you're it!_ " Abruptly, Keyra got cut off as the sound of screeching tires filled the air and she whirled around, only to see a brown haired boy standing stock-still in the middle of the crosswalk in the street, seemingly frightened immobile as the black sedan, not a couple yards away, slammed on its brakes.

A choir of shocked and fearful cries broadcasted from both sides of the street and Keyra soon found herself moving without her mind even telling her to. She was the closest one to him, so it didn't take her long at all to come into contact with the kid, throwing them both to the far side of the street as the car screeched by, coming to a stop a few meters away down the road, not two seconds after she had tackled the young teenager. Breathing hard and fast, her blood still pumping, she turned to the juvenile off to her left, who still had his face plastered to the pavement.

"Hey, are you okay?" She asked in concern as she slowly made her way to her feet, moving towards the kid, aware of the painful scrapes and road-rash she had sustained from this little situation she had literally flung herself into.

"Oh, ow, owowowowow," He chanted as he pushed himself up to his hands and knees, but, before he could even open his mouth to answer, Keyra saw five other boys come running towards them, four sliding to stop next to the brown haired kid, who had managed to get his feet underneath him once more, the fifth running right by the lot of young adults, getting right into the driver's face, who had stumbled out of his car to also run up to the small group. They both had to skid to a stop, so not as to run straight into each other, but, before the poor man could even blink, the black haired and golden eyed teen shoved the older male back a few steps, growling in his face.

"What's your problem, you blind, son of a-!"

"That's enough, Ryley!" One of the adolescents surrounding Keyra and the teen called, his eyes still focused worriedly on the youth still on the pavement in front of him. He was a real adorable, dusty brown haired kid with red-brown eyes. He cut Ryley off before he could even begin to utter the curse word that was painfully notorious. Keyra was sure this Ryley character was gonna deck the man one in the face, but he just snarled, actually _snarled_ , and turned to angrily make his way towards his company. The man sheepishly made his way to the group also, nervously looking in Ryley's direction, before coming up to Keyra.

"A-Are you two okay? I'm so, _so_ terribly sorry about that, I only took my eyes off the road for a _second_ -" Keyra made sure to cut him off with a smile, because the poor guy looked like he was about to have a panic attack at any second.

"It's okay, it's nothing a few Band-Aids can't take care of," She reassured him softly. Looking back to the teen who was getting fused over by his many buddies, she smirked as she continued, "He seems fine as well, just, you know, keep your eyes on the road at all times. It can only take a second, as you found out," She made sure to reprimand him gently, but firmly. He nodded his head so fast he reminded Keyra of one of those bobble-heads you can purchase at the store. Keyra smile, before her head shot up at the sound of sirens in the distance and she sighed.

This was gonna be a long day, she could already tell.


	2. Chapter 2: No Place To Call Home

"We appreciate the information, Miss, have a good day," The officer thanked Keyra, before walking back to his police car.

"You too!" She politely called back, before walking to the ambulance where the kid she had pushed out of the way of the car was sitting, along with his buddies.

"Hey, you sure you're okay?" The boy and his friends' heads, along with four new figures, all in trench coats as it looked, turned towards her so fast that she had to restrain herself from actually flinching and taking a step back. The four in the trench coats were intimidating with how big they seemed to be. The boy sitting on the step into the ambulance blinked in slight confusion for a second. Keyra closed her eyes before giving a laugh.

"You have no idea who I am, do you?" She asked with a grin when she opened her eyes, placing her hands on her hips and moved her weight to her right foot.

"Uh…no?" He dragged out. Keyra shook her head in amusement. She couldn't really blame the kid. A _lot_ of stuff had happened in just the span of a few minutes, and he didn't really get a good look at her, she knew, for she was far too busy getting him thrown across the pavement and all, like she had.

"Can't really guilt ya on that one. Must have traumatized you a bit, huh? Just wanted to come over and apologize for forcing you and your face to become closely associated with the road and all that," She laughed nervously. Suddenly, the boy's eyes brightened in recognition.

"You're the one who—oh, _oh_!" She laughed when he started to wave his finger in her direction wildly when he finally remembered who she was.

"Huh? So, ya the one who 'bout ran down mah nephew?" The biggest guy wearing a trench coat took a step forward and Keyra couldn't see his face, but she imagined a dark, enraged scowl coated his lips to match his tone. Keyra took an identical step backwards in trepidation.

"Uncle Raph, no!" The boy quickly jumped up and grabbed the man's arm, stopping his threating approach.

"Dad, guys, she's the one who pushed me out of the way!" The kid cleared things up and Keyra could imagine the four trench coated mens' eyes widen in understanding, seeing how this Uncle Raph character immediately backed down. It was then that the second biggest trench coated guy stepped forward.

"You're the one who saved Keanu?" Keyra blinked. _'So, Keanu is his name, huh?'_ She thought as she smiled and nodded.

"Yep, that's me. And you're okay, right? I know I made us hit the deck pretty hard and quick," She looked to Keanu again with worry.

"Oh, yeah, totally. I'm not splattered all over the road, thanks to you!" He smiled brightly in reply, then looked regretfully toward his company, who Keyra assumed were his family, when they flinched at his wording. She smiled gently and nodded in reply. The tallest of the men stepped forward and what he did next shocked Keyra so much that she actually just stood there with her mouth hanging open for the longest period of time. He _bowed_.

Only when he had righted himself did Keyra finally have enough graciousness in herself to get her mind finally processing the words he had spoken while doing so. "Thank you so much for saving my son." _'The man had said 'Thank you.' Well, come one, reply with something!'_ Keyra thought to herself as she just blinked stupidly and opened her mouth.

"Uhhhhh…" _'Oh, yeah. That got 'em. Gather your jaw off the freaking floor and form some words, you fool, and let's try to make it a decent sentence this time!'_ She immediately scolded herself.

"I-I mean, no problem, it was my pleasure!" She tried to recover smoothly. It didn't have the desired effect, for Keanu just looked at her oddly for a moment, before bursting out laughing, the others following suit by grinning wide and chuckling. Keyra felt her cheeks grow hot against her will and she shuffled her feet as she looked down to the ground in embarrassment.

"Aww, look, she's blushing!" One of the other kids spoke up with another laugh. Keyra turned her head away from him when she felt her face burn even brighter in discomfiture, if that was even possible, but it just caused everyone to laugh louder. And, before she could stop herself, she also found herself giggling lightly.

"Keyra! Oh my god, are you okay?!" The young woman jumped at the loud yell, soon identifying it was a familiar voice and she turned around to meet the individual, only to be barreled into by five little figures. She blinked in surprise and knelt to hug them all back when she realized who they were. She looked up to see Mrs. Hope running towards them. The caretaker skidded to a stop above the six of them and looked completely out of breath for a moment, her chest rising and falling fast.

"Are…are you okay, honey? You gave me quite the startle when I saw the videotape from that guy's phone on TV! What were you thinking, jumping out in the middle of the street like that?!" She scolded, still a bit out of breath, after about crushing Keyra in a hug when the children let her go.

"It was scary!" One of the youngsters offered as she came in for another hug. Keyra smiled and kissed her forehead.

"I know, it was quite the scare for me too, but I was moving before I even realized it, myself," She explained. One of the slightly older boys walked up to her with a muddled look.

"How did you move without even realizing it?" He asked in confusion. Keyra stole a look back at the boy, who was now standing near his father, who had an arm around his shoulders, hugging him tightly into his side. They were watching and listening to their conversation and, when Keanu met her eyes, he smiled real bright and waved. Keyra chuckled as she shook her head and turned back to the kids.

"Well, look at it this way, when something is more important to you, more than your own safety or feelings, you put that before anything else and don't think about your reflexes or the consequences until after it's all said and done," She tried to explain simply, but when the young child before her only blinked in even more confusion, she gave a short laugh and stood up.

"Don't you worry, you'll understand one day, when you're older," She patted his head fondly. He laughed and swatted her before running off, the other kids soon following. Mrs. Hope and Keyra watched them run up to a police officer and they grinned when the man smiled gently and knelt down beside them. Mrs. Hope then turned to Keyra with lingering worry in her eyes and Keyra smiled gently, trying to reassure her.

"Mrs. Hope, I promise you, I'm fine. I threw us both out of the way before the car could even come near to hitting us. Go ahead and take them back, I be there after I pick up the things you asked me to," She looked about ready to argue, before sighing and smiling.

"Okay, dear, but come straight back afterwards. And, _please_ , for the love of all things holy, try to avoid almost getting run over this time!" Keyra laughed as the caretaker turned to collect the children, that were still keeping the officer from doing his job, sending a quick "I'll try!" after Mrs. Hope's retreating figure.

Keyra chuckled and shook her head in affection at the children's antics, before turning to find Keanu and his family looking at her with a strange emotion in their eyes. They weren't really smiling anymore, if anything, it was a melancholy look to their expression, but as soon as she blinked, it was gone.

"They were all your little brothers and sisters? Wow, your parents must have been busy!" The man known as Uncle Raph instantly smacked Keanu over the head for his inappropriate, but comical comment and Keanu responded in turn with a strangled yelp.

"Uh, not exactly. We're more of a bond than blood relation to each other," Keyra answered softly, trying to defuse the situation when Keanu turn to glare at his uncle. The shortest trench coat wearing man tilted his head a little.

"How do you mean?" He asked softly, and, if Keyra had to guess, she would say that he already had an idea of the answer he was gonna get. She sighed and looked away.

"I…I live in an orphanage. I don't have any parents or a home. I don't have a family."


End file.
